


In Shadows and Dark Corners

by the_genderman



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Arguing, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Sex Work, Slurs, Steve is not ashamed, but they make up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 20:14:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11215476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_genderman/pseuds/the_genderman
Summary: Bucky accidentally discovers how Steve has been paying his half of the rent.





	In Shadows and Dark Corners

Bucky strolled leisurely back home. It was still relatively early, but one of Loretta’s shoes had snapped a heel on the dance floor, so he’d hailed a cab and seen her home. He didn’t see much of a point of heading back to the dance hall, so he’d paid the cabbie and walked the eleven blocks back to his and Steve’s apartment. It was a pleasant night and he didn’t see a point in spending money on a cab ride for himself alone when _his_ shoes were still in perfectly good shape.

A couple blocks away and Bucky heard the sounds of an argument trickling out of an alleyway. The thump of a punch. His immediate thought was to take a look and check if someone needed help or if they had it handled on their own. He knew it was the right thing to do, but he didn’t exactly enjoy getting into the middle of someone else’s fight. He half-heartedly cursed Steve for making it such an instinctive action. The alley was dim, the light from the streetlamps not reaching very far. Bucky walked slowly, letting his eyes adjust to the dark.

“Fifty cents, take it or leave it. Whatcha gonna do about it, huh, shrimp?” A man’s voice, taunting.

“I said a dollar. You agreed,” came the reply, the speaker’s voice raspy.

“Yeah, well I changed my mind. And do you really think you’re in any place to argue? I could snap you in half, you little cocksucker. I bet you enjoyed it.”

“Yeah? Well I _know_ you did.”

That was another reason Bucky didn’t take the cab all the way home. Every time he did, the cabbies made snide comments about his neighborhood being a hotspot for fairies and perverts. He wanted to argue that if wasn’t any of their business who did what with whom, but then he was afraid they’d see past his façade of ‘I live here because I can’t afford rent anywhere nicer.’ Sometimes, after Steve was asleep, he’d slip down the fire escape and meander the streets and alleys until someone called out to him (he’d never been brave enough to make the first move). Different people had different reasons for choosing this occupation. Some did it because they liked it, some because it paid the bills. Most fell somewhere in the middle.

And some of the johns could be assholes about it, knowing that they held the upper hand. A man could be forgiven for taking a suckjob where it came. Giving one was less excusable. Bucky put his hand on the man’s shoulder, spinning him around.

“If you thought getting your rocks off would be worth a dollar, then you’d better pay up that dollar,” Bucky said, not _exactly_ threatening the man.

The man twisted his mouth into a sneer, but he fished two fifty cent pieces out of his pocket and dropped them on the ground before skulking off.

Bucky turned back to see if the other man was ok.

“Steve?” he said, genuinely surprised.

“I had it handled,” Steve said, picking up the coins and not looking at Bucky.

“Ok, but what are you doing out here?” Bucky asked, still trying to get his bearings.

“What does it look like I was doing? You got a problem?” Steve threw back.

“I’m not arguing with you in a dark alley,” Bucky retorted. “I’m going home. You wanna come with, you can. You wanna stay out here, you can. It’s not my call.”

Bucky turned to go. Halfway up the alley, he heard Steve’s footsteps following after him. He slowed to let him catch up. They walked back in silence.

\------------------------------

It was probably only a few minutes, but felt like an hour as Steve sat on one side of the table, holding a small cloth bag of cold, dried beans against his eye, glaring silently at Bucky, sitting across from him.

Bucky was the first to speak, asking a question that wasn’t really a question. “I’m guessing that wasn’t your first time, was it.”

“Nope,” Steve said simply.

“How long?”

“Since the grocers cut my hours, so about three months now.”

Bucky frowned. He didn’t like the idea that Steve had been putting himself out there for three months despite the risks. Steve wasn’t stupid, he _had_ to know the risks.

“Oh, go on,” Steve said, challenge in his voice. “Say it. Tell me how you _really_ feel.”

“I’m not gonna lie; I’m not thrilled about finding this out,” Bucky answered.

“Yeah, well you know they cut my hours, so either you’ve got a real inflated idea of what a grocery store clerk gets paid, or you’ve been playing dumb. Where did you think I went when I didn’t come along with you to the dance halls? Where did you think my half of the rent money came from?”

“The grocer’s not the only job out there, Steve.”

“And how many of those jobs are hiring? How many would hire _me_?”

“You could type. A desk job is nothing to be ashamed of,” Bucky argued.

“And a suckjob is?” Steve counter-argued. “If you’ve got the supply, there’s always gonna be a demand for it. I’ve been told I’ve got a pretty little mouth,” he added sarcastically. “And it pays pretty well; at a dollar a go, I make the rent money quick enough.”

“And how many guys are like the one I interrupted? How often do they try to stiff you?”

Steve pulled a face and didn’t answer.

“I don’t like it. I know I can’t stop you once you set your mind on something, but it doesn’t have to mean I like it,” Bucky said, crossing his arms.

“What part don’t you like? The fact that I’m selling my services, or the clientele I’m selling them to?” Steve needled.

“The fact that it’s _dangerous_ ,” Bucky responded. “You might be able to take a punch, but that doesn’t mean you should have to. I’ve seen guys bigger than you lookin’ a lot worse than I’ve ever seen you after a fight. You’re gonna get yourself killed if you’re not careful. I don’t know, try your hand at drawing Tijuana bibles or something. You’re a better artist than most of the stuff I’ve seen.”

“Maybe it’s not just the money. Maybe I _like_ it,” Steve said, dropping the bag of beans to look at Bucky with both eyes.

“And _maybe_ you could figure out how to suck a cock without also getting punched in a back alley. Unless you like that part, too,” Bucky snarked back.

“Why do you keep talking like you know anything about what I’m doing? You go dancing with respectable girls in exchange for a goodnight kiss and maybe she lets you feel her up a little during the slow songs. I know for a fact you’ve never gotten further than second base,” Steve argued.

“Have too,” Bucky argued back.

“Oh really? With who? Do I know her?”

“ _Him_ ,” Bucky said with emphasis. “You probably don’t know him. He works about four blocks south-east of here, only comes out in the middle of the night.”

“‘Him’?” Steve’s left eyebrow rose.

“Yeah, ‘him.’ Sometimes I’d get lonely, need something I couldn’t get at home. You ain’t the only one with a secret,” Bucky said.

“It’s not exactly a secret anymore now, is it?”

“Neither is yours.”

“So you’re not judging me or what I’ve been doing? You’re really just concerned with my welfare?” Steve asked, slightly chastened.

“Not judging you. I’d be a pretty big hypocrite if I bad-mouthed a service that I have myself partaken in,” Bucky answered. “Although, I can’t say there isn’t any jealousy involved. Finding out that you’ve been giving it up to strangers and wondering if I’d’ve asked, if you’d’ve done it for me.”

“Honestly? I don’t know,” Steve conceded. “I wouldn’t have wanted to hurt what we’ve got or cheapen our friendship with meaningless, casual sex.”

“Who said it’d have to be meaningless and casual? And who said that friends can’t also have sex?” Bucky asked with a smile.

“You’d really want that?” Steve asked back.

“Yeah. I would. I do.”

“You know we couldn’t tell anyone, right?”

“I know.”

“You also know that you’d have to keep up with the girls?”

“Double dates are a thing, Steve.”

“And that I’m probably gonna keep doing this until I can get a more ‘traditional’ job that pays better than the grocers?”

“I might want you all for myself, but in the end it’s your choice.”

“Well then,” Steve said with a smirk. “I sure hope your cock lives up to all the competition it’s chasing off.”

“Oh, you’d better believe it does,” Bucky grinned back.

**Author's Note:**

> The idea popped into my head, I said, "oh, what the hell," and decided to write it out. I tried to keep the in-fic attitudes towards sex-work realistic, but not judgey. 
> 
> Link is not my writing, but it at least partially influenced this ficlet, and is worth a read.  
> http://thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/213805.html


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